Pablo Sandoval breaks out pink bat, leads Giants to Mother’s Day win

Share this:

SAN FRANCISCO CA – MAY 12: Pablo Sandoval celebrates at 2nd base after hitting a double during the San Francisco Giants’ big eighth inning rally against the Cincinnati Reds, Sunday, May 12, 2019, at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

SAN FRANCISCO CA – MAY 12: Madison Bumgarner of the San Francisco Giants pitches against the Cincinnati Reds, Sunday, May 12, 2019, at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

SAN FRANCISCO CA – MAY 12: San Francisco Giants centerfielder Kevin Pillar throws out the Cincinnati Reds’ Jose Iglesias at the plate in the first inning, Sunday, May 12, 2019, at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

SAN FRANCISCO CA – MAY 12: San Francisco Giants catcher Erik Kratz tags out the Cincinnati Reds’ Jose Iglesias on a throw from centerfielder Kevin Pillar in the first inning, Sunday, May 12, 2019, at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

SAN FRANCISCO CA – MAY 12: The San Francisco Giants’ Pablo Sandoval hits an opposite field, two-run homer against the Cincinnati Reds, tying the game in the first inning 2-2, Sunday, May 12, 2019, at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

SAN FRANCISCO CA – MAY 12: The San Francisco Giants’ Pablo Sandoval (right) hits a two-run homer against the Cincinnati Reds scoring teammate Steven Duggar in the first inning, Sunday, May 12, 2019, at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

SAN FRANCISCO CA – MAY 12: The San Francisco Giants’ Pablo Sandoval is welcomed in the dug out after his two-run homer tied the game against the Cincinnati Reds in the first inning, Sunday, May 12, 2019, at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants have reached the quarter pole and the club is nowhere close to hitting its stride.

There’s frustration, there’s disappointment, and even confusion, but there are also moments the team can celebrate.

A come-from-behind Mother’s Day victory over the Reds qualified as one of those moments. Thanks to a go-ahead single from Kevin Pillar to drive in Pablo Sandoval in the bottom of the eighth, the Giants secured a 6-5 win to salvage the finale of a three-game set with the Cincinnati Reds.

Reds center fielder Nick Senzel allowed a blooper from Pillar to drop in front of him and his throw to the plate was too late to beat Sandoval, who raced around from second to score the decisive run.

“Next time, hit it in the gap,” Sandoval told Pillar after the game.

The Giants notched a pair of come-from-behind victories in Cincinnati last weekend and overcame three separate deficits against the Reds to win Sunday’s game. A two-run Sandoval homer erased a 2-0 first inning deficit, a two-run, pinch-hit home run from Brandon Belt wiped out a 4-2 seventh inning Reds lead and a RBI groundout from Mac Williamson allowed the Giants to tie the game in the eighth after they fell behind 5-4.

“Since going to Cincinnati, that big comeback victory gave us all confidence offensively,” Pillar said. “No matter how many runs we’re down, we’ve got to be professional about our job.”

Pillar and Sandoval were two of the Giants to use pink bats on Mother’s Day and after breaking a three-game losing streak with big hits, neither player may want to give them up.

“We love our moms,” Pillar said.

The Giants’ late-inning theatrics took place on day that started with controversy for the franchise.

No one anticipated the Giants to gallop their way to a playoff berth, but the team’s performance through the first quarter of the season has disgruntled its fan base and led to unease in some corners of the clubhouse.

Before ace Madison Bumgarner took the mound on Sunday, manager Bruce Bochy and president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi addressed comments pitcher Derek Holland made Saturday after Holland was told he’ll move from the starting rotation to the bullpen.

Holland said he has “no idea what they’re doing” in reference to recent front office decisions, a critique Bochy and Zaidi wished Holland had kept in-house. While both Bochy and Zaidi have dozens of people inside the organization to keep happy, the duo acknowledged it’s more difficult to do so when the Giants are losing.

“We’re not where we want to be,” Bochy said pregame. “You look at the struggles on both ends, we still feel we can get this thing right. We can hang in there and get some consistency to the point where we can get on a roll and get back to winning baseball.”

A recent stretch of underwhelming play featured continued struggles from the club’s starting rotation, as every starter outside of Bumgarner and Jeff Samardzija have failed to meet expectations. The pitching staff has been at its worst in the first inning, and even Bumgarner wasn’t immune to adversity at the outset of Sunday’s game.

Miscues by Erik Kratz cost Bumgarner a pair of unearned runs in the opening frame against Cincinnati, as Kratz committed catcher’s interference, allowing Senzel to reach to start the game. A passed ball and an error by center fielder Pillar didn’t help matters, but Bumgarner limited the damage to two runs thanks to an outfield assist from Pillar, who fired a strike to the plate to retire shortstop Jose Iglesias to end the inning.

The Giants didn’t face a deficit for long as Sandoval launched an opposite-field home run off Tyler Mahle in the bottom of the inning to tie the game at 2-2. Prior to Sunday’s game, the Giants had been outscored 40-3 in the first inning of games this year, but Sandoval put the team on equal footing with the Reds with his fourth home run of the season.

“He’s a great player,” Bumgarner said of Sandoval. “He has been throughout his career and he’s not any different now. He’s just a good ballplayer. A natural baseball player. It’s pretty incredible to see.”

After Belt’s homer tied the game in the seventh, reliever Reyes Moronta loaded the bases with no outs before Tony Watson walked in a run. Base hits from Evan Longoria and Sandoval started the eighth inning rally, which was capped off by Pillar’s single that landed a few feet in front of Senzel in center field and helped the Giants secure the comeback win.

“Three comebacks, a gritty, gritty effort by the guys,” Bochy said. “Down two, Pablo ties it. Down two, Belt ties it. Both homers. Then you give up a run there in the eighth and we mounted another comeback. A lot of clutch hitting.”

Kerry Crowley is a multimedia beat reporter covering the San Francisco Giants. He spent his early days throwing curveballs in San Francisco’s youth leagues before studying journalism at Arizona State University. Kerry has covered every level of baseball, from local preps to the Cape Cod League, and is now on a quest to determine which Major League city serves the best cheeseburger.